First released in 2010, Jupiter Duo showcases music for cello/piano duo, solo piano, and for solo cello by Alla Elana Cohen. She and cellist Sebastian Baverstam make up Jupiter Duo, and have performed together for many years since Baverstam was 12 years old. They perform Cohen’s highly expressive music with an unbridled intensity, and have a reputation for having a close musical connection...

I have to admit that I'm not overly a fan of Alla Elana Cohen's work. It's not that I don't appreciate the finer points and subtleties, just that it sits in a strange middle ground between conventional notions of Classical music and self-indulgent contemporary nonsense.

Yes, yes. We I it. You're experimenting with the form. But like all the art I consume, if it doesn't enrich my soul then I'm not interested engaging with it for pleasure. Sadly too much of the work on here is, to the layman, simply just noise. Those who don't appreciate this style of music could be forgiven for thinking the performances are carried out by people who can play... but just not up to orchestra standard. They're just mucking about with their instruments in some sort of free-form classical music style.

I could lay out the ideas behind the recording but to be perfectly honest, it doesn't matter what the background to the tracks are. This is an album you're going to embrace or be repelled by.

Sadly, it did very little for me. After a month of listening to it I'm neither closer to understanding it or truly appreciating the work that has been beautifully crafted.

5

Darren Rea